PM ingest issues with NICA system

[JMichael]

Laptop PowerBook G4 running Mac OS 10.4.11; Photo Mechanic 4.6.6; Transmit 3.7
Desktop MacPro Intel running Mac 10.6.7; Photo Mechanic 4.6.6; Transmit 3.7

The local metro paper I regularly shoot for as a freelancer uses a NICA system that we ftp photos to. Periodically it seems NICA has a problem with images that I have ingested into PM, and the photos don't show up. They've asked me for the time being to only use PM as a browser but to not use it to caption or put in any IPTC data, using Photoshop for that. That turns into a real pain. Their systems guy checked out my laptop a couple of weeks ago and couldn't fine any problems, except that images ingested in PM would not go into their system. All their staff photographers also us PM but the problems seem to be more consistent with my setup.

Any clues as to why this might happen?  Thanks.

J Michael

[Kirk Baker]

Laptop PowerBook G4 running Mac OS 10.4.11; Photo Mechanic 4.6.6; Transmit 3.7
Desktop MacPro Intel running Mac 10.6.7; Photo Mechanic 4.6.6; Transmit 3.7

The local metro paper I regularly shoot for as a freelancer uses a NICA system that we ftp photos to. Periodically it seems NICA has a problem with images that I have ingested into PM, and the photos don't show up. They've asked me for the time being to only use PM as a browser but to not use it to caption or put in any IPTC data, using Photoshop for that. That turns into a real pain. Their systems guy checked out my laptop a couple of weeks ago and couldn't fine any problems, except that images ingested in PM would not go into their system. All their staff photographers also us PM but the problems seem to be more consistent with my setup.

Any clues as to why this might happen?  Thanks.

I am not familiar with NICA.  Doing a Google search on NICA resulted in a lot of things that are unrelated to photojournalism or photography in general.  So perhaps you can fill me in:

Is the server just a standard FTP server?  I'd guess that it is since you're using Transmit as a backup now.  So the NICA system must post-process files after they're uploaded.  Do their IT people have access to the server's logs?  If so can they track the FTP logs separate from the logs that NICA generates?  If PM is doing its part then the FTP server logs should show it.  If PM isn't working correctly then you should see that in the FTP server's logs as well.  If the FTP server is receiving the photos yet NICA isn't picking them up then perhaps the issue is with missing fields in IPTC or a needed file naming scheme not being followed completely.

As far as using Photoshop to caption goes, I don't see how it would make any difference what software was used to caption photos.  IPTC data is IPTC data, and XMP is XMP.  Are you uploading JPEGs?

-Kirk

[JMichael]

NICA is a server, an IBM based product, that serves as both an image archiving system and a photo desk for the newspaper. It is supposed to deal with all jpeg images but it seems a bit quirky. And it seems there is something that can happen in PM that gives NICA fits. Certain batches of images will just not show up. They will ingest into NICA and then disappear without a trace.

So sometimes I will ftp the images to the parent folder, outside the ingest folder and the editor working the folder will open my images in Photoshop, do a Select All and Copy command and then put paste that into a new PS file and then copy and paste the XMP/IPTC info into that new file and the image with then successfully ingest into NICA. I am currently trying to zap my PM preference files and see it that changes things. At the moment it seems any image ingested into PM on my laptop will disappear when put into NICA and on my desk top system just occasional batches of files will disappear when put into NICA.  Thanks

[Kirk Baker]

NICA is a server, an IBM based product, that serves as both an image archiving system and a photo desk for the newspaper. It is supposed to deal with all jpeg images but it seems a bit quirky. And it seems there is something that can happen in PM that gives NICA fits. Certain batches of images will just not show up. They will ingest into NICA and then disappear without a trace.

So sometimes I will ftp the images to the parent folder, outside the ingest folder and the editor working the folder will open my images in Photoshop, do a Select All and Copy command and then put paste that into a new PS file and then copy and paste the XMP/IPTC info into that new file and the image with then successfully ingest into NICA. I am currently trying to zap my PM preference files and see it that changes things. At the moment it seems any image ingested into PM on my laptop will disappear when put into NICA and on my desk top system just occasional batches of files will disappear when put into NICA.  Thanks

OK, well I'm not sure how much more I'd be able to help without knowing what NICA is sensitive to.

-Kirk

[JMichael]

There we go!  I removed the camera bits photo mechanic preferences files, rebooted the laptop and fired up PM, ingested some images and they showed up in NICA without problem. So, that, hopefully, takes care of that problem.

[JMichael]

Here's my problem now. I've been reluctant to zap the preference for Photo Mechanic on my desktop as I have so many presets in my IPTC Stationary pad that truly save me time and I know that they will be gone once I zap the preference files. For instance, I probably have more than 50 locations, about a dozen sources, two dozen cities, a dozen credit presets. Is there some way to save that info without saving whatever is corrupting my files in those preferences?  Thanks.

JM

[Kirk Baker]

Here's my problem now. I've been reluctant to zap the preference for Photo Mechanic on my desktop as I have so many presets in my IPTC Stationary pad that truly save me time and I know that they will be gone once I zap the preference files. For instance, I probably have more than 50 locations, about a dozen sources, two dozen cities, a dozen credit presets. Is there some way to save that info without saving whatever is corrupting my files in those preferences?

Sure, use the Export/Import options in the Preferences dialog.  Save the parts you care about.  Later whack the preferences files and the Import your exported prefs.

Honestly though, I can't think of any setting that could be 'corrupted' that would cause the behavior you describe.

-Kirk